Photos: North Korea, Making the Myth

AP- A towering bronze statue of Kim Il Sung, his arm outstretched, lords over the capital city from atop Mansu Hill. In the days since Kim Jong Il’s death, mourners have been streaming to the hill to lay flowers at the statue as they typically do for the leaders’ birthdays and other major occasions.

Kim Il Sung’s smiling face also beams from the face of major buildings, though his portrait at the Grand People’s Study House in central Pyongyang was replaced this week by one of Kim Jong Il.

Portraits of the two late leaders feature prominently in every building in North Korea, father and son side by side or standing together in colorful portraits, murals and larger-than-life mosaics interspersed in every village and city across the country.

A portrait of North Korea's late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hangs in a building lobby in Wason, North Korea. A quasi-religious mystique surrounding the Kim family has been developed over two generations, dating back to "eternal president" Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

An image of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung is made by people holding placards at a stadium during an Arirang festival performance in Pyongyang. A quasi-religious mystique surrounding the Kim family has been developed over two generations, dating back to "eternal president" Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

Families visit Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea. The palace, which was the official residence of Kim Il Sung until his death in 1994, is now a mausoleum where the two late leaders' embalmed bodies lie in state. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A calendar with a picture of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung hangs above the television at a farmer's home at a model collective farm near the town of Sariwon, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A pin bears a portrait of the late leader Kim Il Sung on the uniform of a North Korean soldier at the Demilitarized Zone which separates the two halves of the Korean peninsula near Kaesong, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

People in a farm vehicle drive beside a large monument to the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il near Kaesong, North Korea. A quasi-religious mystique surrounding the Kim family has been developed over two generations, dating back to "eternal president" Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

Books, including one about North Korea's late leader Kim Il Sung titled "Eternal Sun of Mankind," are displayed for sale at a shop in Pyongyang. A quasi-religious mystique surrounding the Kim family has been developed over two generations, dating back to "eternal president" Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

A North Korean cashier helps a customer at Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea. Outside the window is a monument to the late president Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

Visitors bow before a statue of North Korea's late leader Kim Il Sung. A quasi-religious mystique surrounding the Kim family has been developed over two generations, dating back to "eternal president" Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) #

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